wab magazine
w i n t e r 2 012
wallonia and br us sels
The exhibition bid that’s lighting up the city
Liège Expo
2017 ‘Connecting the world, linking people, better living together’
Liege 2017
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4 Connecting the world, linking people, better living together A relevant theme with a universal character
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nformation and Communication Technology (ICT) has become part of our daily lives. It multiplies our exchanges, creates new types of relationships and transforms our views of time and space. Belgium is convinced that mankind must take advantage of this progress to improve living conditions on all continents. Liège Expo 2017 will put forward a platform to exchange good practices in the use of ICT worldwide and to assess the progress made with regard to the developments expected during our century. The expo will be divided into differing areas of our lives: ‘personal’ space, ‘city’ space, ‘world’ space and ‘cyberspace’. In each dimension it will be shown how new technology can benefit the individual and society: health and well-being, education and research, culture, sustainable development, the environment, mobility and the economy. The aim is to show how ICT can foster peace, human development, stronger solidarity and good governance in an innovative way. Liège Expo 2017 will contribute to ‘better living together’ for everyone in the world.
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the big picture The bid to bring the world to Liège
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Belgian stage Belgium has a proud history of staging world events
host city Why Liège? We look behind the bid and focus on the Ardent City’s strengths
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international How WalloniaBrussels and Belgium are punching above their weight
wab magazine
w i n t e r 2 012
wallonia and brussels
A quarterly magazine focusing on Wallonia and Brussels
wab magazine
w i n t e r 2 012
wallonia and br us sels
The exhibition bid that’s lighting up the city
Liège Expo technology Communication brings the world closer and is at the heart of Liège’s bid
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natural science
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ICT and the future of healthcare culture Technology gets creative
education An overview of e-learning
‘Connecting the world, linking people, better living together’
transport Cover: An architect’s impression of Liège Expo 2017. Image by VenhoevenCS architecture+urbanism
Why Liège is in the right place at the right time
Editor-in-chief Sarah Crew
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environment
Deputy editor
The Liège Expo bid sets a green example for today and tomorrow
Reporters
Sally Tipper Jennifer Baker, Leo Cendrowicz, Bernard Demonty, Julian Hale, Anna Jenkinson, Emma Portier Davis, Tania Rabesandratana, Jacqueline Remits, Emily von Sydow, Eric Wiertz
Art director Patricia Brossel
Top: Eating, shopping and relaxing in Liège
General manager Joske Plas
Left: twilight along the Meuse river; and flying the flag for the Expo 2017 bid
Editorial committee: AWEX/WBI and The Bulletin/ Ackroyd Publications
Publisher:
Philippe Suinen – AWEX/WBI
For more information on Wab magazine
guillauma grange
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2017
contact: Marie-Catherine Duchêne AWEX, Place Sainctelette 2 1080 Brussels, Belgium Tel: 00.32(0)2.421.85.76 Fax: 00.32(0)2.421.83.93 email: mc.duchene@awex.be Winter 2012 - 3
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Liege 2017
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the big pic ture
The soaring
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city of Liège W
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hile Calatrava’s stunning Guillemins train station accelerated Liège into the 21st century, the city’s ambition to host Expo 2017 would pin it firmly on the world map. The international event comes around every five years, staged between two World Expos. Liège is in an exciting race with the Kazakh capital Astana to host the 2017 edition, with the whole of Belgium backing the Wallonia city. This issue of Wab is dedicated to the exhibition bid. We look at the urban revival that is redefining the city of Liège, the opportunity it creates for the city and regions to market themselves on the international stage, and, most importantly, the theme that would serve as a unifying banner for the fair. In deciding on ‘Connecting the world, linking people, better living together’, the organising committee is showcasing two of Liège’s strengths: its reinvention as a centre of technology, and the enthusiasm and industriousness of its workforce. The people of Liège have proved over the past 1,000 years that they can be resourceful and open to international ventures. It is no accident that Liège is nicknamed the Ardent City. In a series of articles, we explain how the theme of connectivity relates to different areas of our lives and how new technology can benefit the individual and society. Just as Liège has confronted its economic difficulties, the 2017 Expo turns to future environvental challenges. The chosen Coronmeuse site on the banks of the River Meuse would leave Liège with an invaluable legacy, while the fair itself would provide the city, region and whole country with a perfect occasion to welcome the world.
Sarah Crew Winter 2012 - 5
Liege 2017
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host city
More ardent than ever
From historic principality to city of the future, Liège is forging a new path Eric Wiertz and Sarah Crew
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iège owes its nickname, the Ardent City, to the burning furnaces that for hundreds of years fuelled its heavy industries. The title lives on, thanks to a chivalrous novel written at the beginning of the 20th century by Henry Carton de Wiart, which glorifies the eternal pride of Liège citizens. It traces the bravery of city folk in the face of enemy occupiers, although even they could not succeed against Charles the Bold, who set fire to the city in 1468. The blaze raged for seven weeks and led to the name Ardent or Fiery City, which also suited the independent spirit of its inhabitants.
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Office du tourisme de la Ville de Liège
From Saint Lambert to Saint-Lambert Centrally positioned in the city, Saint-Lambert square is a unique witness to Liège’s past. Its name recalls the martyr Bishop Lambert, whose canonisation led to the creation of the city. The open columns that ornament the square recall the location of the former cathedral, the tallest in Europe before it was destroyed in the Franco-Liège revolution. The palace of the Prince Bishops that took its place serves as law courts and the seat of the provincial government. It is a reminder of the glorious history of a principality that remained independent for more than eight centuries. The Archéoforum museum, lying under the square, recalls 9,000 years of local history.
Walking around Liège
The best way to explore the city centre is on foot, starting from Place Saint-Lambert. Nearby is the Place du Marché, with the imposing Violette (Hôtel de Ville), the Perron monument (symbol of Liège’s freedom) and terraces full of cosy restaurants and cafés. A little further are the Féronstrée and Hors Château streets in the historic heart of the city. It houses the magnificent buildings of the Grand Curtius Museum, Liège’s oldest religious building, the Collegiate Church of Saint Barthélemy, and the Museum of Walloon Life. From the latter, little alleyways and passages rise to the slopes of the Citadel, which was recently awarded three stars by the Michelin Vert guide and is one of the unmissable sights of the city. Cross the River Meuse by Pont des Arches, the favoured bridge of local crime writer Georges Simenon, who was born a whisker away, to discover the Outremeuse. This lively area hosts the traditional mayoral festivities on August 15. Double back to explore the Sunday morning quayside market La Batte (the biggest and oldest i n Europe) and sample Liège in fact represents a confusing the celebrated boulets-frites (meatballs in Liège sauce with chips). number of entities. That’s because this In the commercial centre of the one name can refer to a city of some 200,000 habitants, an agglomeration of city is the renowned Carré with 600,000 and a province of 1 million. its enticing shops by day and student partying in the evening. Stroll Add to this the principality of Liège, along the Promenade d’Avroy and which covers Verviers, Waremme and the Saint-Paul area, where Jupiler lager is now more plentiful than traHuy as well as Ciney, Couvin, Thuin, ditional pèkèt, the regional genever Saint-Trond and Hasselt, and you can drink made from juniper berries. understand the confusion. On top of Further along is Mont Saint-Martin that, since the 1990s, the expression and the soaring new Guillemins sta‘Pays de Liège’ (Liège country), has tion, the Cointe allied war memorial been equally used. and the new Médiacité shopping complex.
Overlooking the city of Liège
Awarded a collective Legion of Honour for defending city fortresses in 1914, the population further suffered in World War Two with the bombardment of more than a thousand missiles. As coal and steel industries declined in the postwar period, the city has dug deep to reinvent itself for the 21st century by developing a network of new businesses in the fields of science, aeronautics and high technology. Drawing on its practical nature, since the millennium it has also been honouring its heritage and redesigning public spaces by masterminding a tactical programme of urban rebranding.
Liège: city, metropole and province
Moving with the times Liège’s past was the genius of engineers and captains of industry (Zénobe Gramme, Edgard Frankignoul, John Cockerill, Georges Nagelmackers) and the sweat of its miners, workers and gunsmiths. From the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, they made the region one of the economic capitals of the world. In the face of a global Winter 2012 - 7
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host cit y decline, Liège has developed its transport and logistics sector, playing to its strength – an excellent geographical situation revealed in its four trump cards: water, road, rail and air. Also known as ‘the daughter of the Meuse river’, Liège is the third largest European river port, with 21 million tonnes of goods handled in 2010. The road network is a reminder that Liège is at the centre of one of the most important motorway networks on the continent. In eight hours, a lorry can reach 60 percent of the European consumer market. Here also, infrastructure is in constant evolution, symbolised by the Cointe double motorway tunnel. Rail has a historic role in Liège, as the first European locomotive was built in the city and the area’s industrial activities aided its development. Inaugurated two years ago, the futuristic TGV station designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava also places Liège at the centre of the European high-speed network, with a planned freight version linking up with Liège airport. In 20 years, Liège airport has grown to be Europe’s seventh biggest cargo airport, in addition to being at the centre of an ambitious development project that should, in the next five years, double the existing number of direct and indirect jobs. But the real feat has been in reducing the competition between the four modes of transport to make them complementary in a multimodal, dense logistics chain that benefits the whole sector.
Economic capital of Wallonia Liège University (ULg) plays an important teaching role (almost 20,000 students, of which a quarter are from outside Belgium and number 100 nationalities). It is also an enormous research centre, specialised in natural sciences, as proved by the GIGA project, an immense research and development centre housed in the university hospital. Over more than 20 years, some 75 companies have set up spin-offs of ULg and the neighbouring Liège Science Park. They include Eurogentec (biotechnology), Lasea (lasers for the industrial sector), Occhio (optic control), IP Trade (internet protocol telephone solutions), Star Apic (geographic information systems), Physiol (intra-ocular implants), KitoZyme (natural sciences) and Mithra (gynaecological medication); all are leaders in their fields. Excellence is also exemplified by EVS Broadcast Equipment (the inventor of slow-motion film technology in modern sports broadcasting) and Maggoteaux (a worldleader in cement pellets). Besides Liège’s traditional industrial skills, the sectors of precision engineering and micromechanics are spearheading activities supported by Technifutur centre of competence and numerous research centres. The aeronautic and spatial sector, in particular, benefits from Techspace Aero, which encourages numerous subcontractors. Around the Liège Spatial Centre, a ‘spatiopole’ is prospering: spin-offs set up in the 1980s such as Samtech (virtual analysis), Amos (opto-mechanic) and Spacebel (spatial technology) have been joined by 20 ‘young shoots’ from the Wallonia Space Logistics Incubator. They all have impressive international portfolios. With these credentials, among others, Liège has earned its
title as economic capital of Wallonia. Its operators include the development agency SPI, Invest Meusinvest, economic redeployment group GRE Liège, economic stimulation agency ASE and technological agency AST, the economic and social advisor of the Walloon Region CESRW, the Interface Enterprise-University and its accompanying organisation Cide-Socran, plus Sofico, which finances major building sites in Wallonia. Progress is further ensured with its inclusion in the crossborder Euregio Meuse-Rhin project.
Liège plays to its strength – an excellent geographical situation
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Culture and tourism
Liège is also a city of culture and folklore and home to a variety of names in many domains, including AndréModeste Grétry, Henri Pousseur, Stanislas-André Steeman, Alexis Curvers and Eugène Ysaÿe. Leading cultural organisations are based here: the Royal Opera of Wallonia, Liège Philharmonic Orchestra and Théâtre de la Place, as well as smaller and alternative theatres. The city’s heritage, museums and legendary conviviality are on display in its Christmas market, its music festivals and in its local gastronomy, ranging from boukètes (buckwheat pancakes) to fricassée (bacon omelette). It also boasts the new and sumptuous Crowne Plaza Les Comtes de Méan, the only five-star hotel in Wallonia outside the Brussels periphery.
Welcoming the world What’s behind the city’s bid to stage a world-class event? Jacqueline Remits and Sarah Crew
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onnecting the world, linking people, better living together’ is the unifying theme of Liège Expo 2017. When the Ardent City’s candidature for the organisation of the International Exhibition 2017 was submitted in June 2010, it promised an exciting chance to improve local infrastructure for the benefit of everyone. Over the past 10 years, Liège has undergone a massive transformation. In 2009, three major infrastructures were inaugurated: the Grand Curtius museum, the Médiacité shopping centre designed by Ron Arad, and the Calatravadesigned Guillemins TGV station. This policy of grandiose projects by public authorities, supported by businesses and higher education establishments, is undoubtedly driving forward the renewal of the Liège region. Other projects are under way: the Théâtre de la Place is to become the European Centre for Theatrical Creation and Choreography in the renovated Emulation theatre building; the museum of modern art is to be given a new lease of life as a centre of international art, and a tram system is
returning to the city for the opening of the exhibition. “We need to maximise potential by having a unifying objective and a shared project,” explains Robert Tollet, president of the Liège Expo 2017 administrative committee.
Why Liège? The arguments in favour of Liège’s candidature are considerable. Each year the city attracts new inhabitants and it has become Wallonia’s number one tourist destination. Liège’s geographical situation has led to it becoming a leading transport hub, and it is home to internationally recognised companies. “The majority of these have generated competitive clusters in which the Liège region excels: aeronautic, mechanic, spatial, biotechnology, IT and communication and the farm produce industry,” adds Tollet. Liège wants to build on this momentum by staging a worldclass event. “It would be the pinnacle of our economic and urban renewal strategy,” says Tollet. “For more than ten years, public and private investment has been made in Liège, Winter 2012 - 9
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Architect’s view of a future theatre on Monsin Island
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host c it y creating a platform on which future prosperity can be developed. Organising an international exposition is a superb occasion to showcase Belgian strengths and success stories in economy, culture and science. The event would positively position the country, its regions and communities on an international level, symbolising the urban and economic transformation of the Liège region.” Since the unanimous decision by Liège’s city council to bid for the Expo, the city and its partners have been working around the clock. “Since May 16, 2011, all the country’s governments (federal, Wallonia, French-speaking Community, Brussels Region, Flemish- and German-speaking) have backed this fabulous unifying project,” says Tollet. “On June 10, the prime minister officially submitted Liège’s candidature at the International Bureau of Expositions (BIE). It just remains to convince the 160 countries to choose Liège.” The BIE is scheduled to visit Liège in March 2012, to study the bid in detail. In September, an international forum will be held in Liège, providing the delegates with an opportunity to explore the city. On November 22 2012, it’s crunch time as the BIE picks the organising city. Each of the 160 member states has one vote. Will Liège win the tender, or will it be the remaining candidate city, Astana in Kazakhstan? Liège has already received the support of numerous players in the worlds of science, academia, socioeconomics, sport and culture.
Connecting for greater solidarity Connectivity was chosen as the Expo’s theme, for its power to link people around the world. Liège Expo 2017 will be posing questions such as ‘How can connectivity around the planet help solidarity and resolve enormous problems such as extreme poverty?’ “In the history of humanity, it is only recently that the means of communicating have intensified and diversified thanks to networks such as the internet and mobile telephones,” says Tollet. “This development is present in the daily lives of each one of us. This new reality imposes a rethinking of the link or connection that man has with his environment (family, professional, cultural), on an individual and community level and a local and international scale. The development of communication technologies and the multiplication of digital methods are only of value if they aid fulfilment of the individual and the community.” New technologies offer a real opportunity to find solutions for meeting UN millennium objectives, according to
Tollet. “They help us confront numerous challenges affecting health and wellness, education and research, culture, sustainable development and the environment, mobility and the economy. The Expo can add its voice to pledges such as the development of telemedicine in isolated communities, digital campuses, distance learning, identity conservation and cultural heritage, supporting creativity, prevention and management of major natural catastrophes, green mobility in cities and reducing the isolation of rural communities via information technology and communication.”
Green and open eco district
Why an international expo? Universal and international expos represent a unique occasion for a country to invite countries from all over the world and show them what they do best in terms of development. A Universal Expo takes place every five years for a period of six months. Each participating country constructs its own pavilion, which is unlimited in surface area, and the theme is of general and topical interest for everyone. An International Expo comes round every two years and lasts two months. The pavilions are built by the organiser and the interior is personalised by participating countries. The surface area of the site is no more than 25 hectares, and the theme is of general interest but with a specified goal. 10 - Winter 2012
If Liège is selected, in the first quarter of 2013 the private partner for the development of the Coronmeuse quarter of the city will be selected. This area was chosen because it is in immediate proximity to the planned tram that will connect it with the city centre, Tollet says. “Motorway access is nearby and there are many green spaces on the banks of the Meuse. Coronmeuse was the site of the water-themed exposition organised by Liège in 1939, interrupted by the start of World War Two. The Grand Palais, a reminder of this expo, is to be preserved and restored.” Following an international tender, the Liège Expo 2017 committee decided to collaborate with Dutch urban architecture
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Architect’s drawing of the planned expo
company VenhoevenCS architecture+urbanism, which specialises in the organisation of eco districts. “The local authorities would like to modernise this area by making it green and open; a model of sustainable development,” explains Tollet. “Cars will be banned. Some 15 new buildings will replace the current Halles des Foires and house the participating countries’ pavilions. After the Expo, they would be converted into housing and offices. The eco quarter would conform to the highest standards in terms of energy performance, urban mix, green transport and green spaces with water from the Meuse used for urban heating,” he says. “The principal allocation, post Expo, is destined for housing, offices and services such as schools, libraries, shops and restaurants. The enhancement of this housing development guarantees the self-sufficient character of the operation. Half of the 25-hectare Coronmeuse site would remain untouched, to maintain the area’s green character.” The tip of Monsin Island is considered ideal for hosting cultural activities and animating the Expo over a threemonth period. To accommodate the millions of visitors, a space integrating the different means of transport is planned at Droixhe: a park-and-ride system and renovation of the Bressoux station and the arrival point of the tram via the Atlas Bridge. These developments benefit the city beyond the life of the Expo. A cycle and footbridge crossing
the River Meuse would link the area with the Coronmeuse and would be part of the Expo legacy in the style of the Fragnée Bridge after the 1905 World Expo hosted by the city.
Unprecedented economic impact According to the predictions of the consultant McKinsey, more than eight million visitors are expected during the three-month opening period, with about 90,000 people a day. Some 100 countries would take part, resulting in exceptional acclaim for Liège and Wallonia. The economic impact is without precedent: €550 million investment and 2,000 jobs to develop the site. “This represents a considerable step for many businesses,” adds Tollet. “VAT returns generated by an event of this scale will obviously be quite considerable and benefit the whole country. That’s without taking into account the know-how of businesses benefiting from the Expo thanks to its theme. “Packages will enable visitors to discover tourism in Wallonia, Brussels and Flanders. As hotel capacity in Liège is insufficient to accommodate all the visitors expected, they will be accommodated in other places in Belgium. The restaurant business will also benefit from the Expo. Receiving Expo 2017 in Liège is therefore a fabulous opportunity to benefit everyone in the country.” Winter 2012 - 11
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Belgian stage
Umatched in event
The Atomium was built for the 1958 Brussels World Expo 12 - Winter 2012
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Belgium has a remarkable gift for welcoming the world. Here we look at the country’s tradition for holding major events down the years Leo Cendrowicz
management T
here are few, if any, countries that can rise to the challenge of organising globally important events like Belgium can. Whether it’s a sports tournament, an arts fair, a political convention or a business forum, Belgium has consistently shown an adeptness for the logistics, management and accomodation needed to welcome the world. It is a talent that has been invaluable in tough times, as Belgians showed in 1920: just two years after the end of World War One, when the strongest and fastest men and women of their generation gathered in Antwerp for an unprecedented festival of sport and culture. One of the most remarkable episodes in Belgian history, the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games aimed to draw a line under the war that had so devastated the country, but were also extraordinary because they were thrown together in an unheard-of speed. Just 12 months after being confirmed as host city, Antwerp was greeting the first athletes for the five-month Olympiad that combined both winter and summer events. A more recent major sporting contest was Euro 2000, football’s European Championships that Belgium co-hosted with the Netherlands just over a decade ago. For three weeks, football fans descended on the country for a competition that has become the world’s third largest sporting event, after the World Cup and the Olympics. The tournament involved unprecedented security and policing, as well as massive ticketing, catering and transport challenges, and resulted in a hugely memorable occasion. Regular highlights of the Belgian sporting calender include major cycling races such as the Liège-Bastogne-Liège circuit, the Flèche Wallonne, the Tour of Flanders and even the Tour de France on occasion, as is the case this year when the race will start from Parc d’Avroy in the heart of Liège. Other annual events are athletics meetings such as the Ivo Van Damme Memorial in Brussels, and the contest for tennis’s most bling trophy: the diamond-studded gold tennis racket on offer to the woman who wins the Proximus Diamond Games. Not forgetting, of course, the ever-popular Grand Prix, which has arguably the most famous corner in racing. The Eau Rouge high-speed turn on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, named after the tiny stream that the course crosses, has nearlegendary status among the world’s top racing drivers. The race itself attracts crowds of more than 50,000 each year.
Brussels Expo Away from sport, Belgium hosted the World Expo in Brussels in 1958. Like the Olympics, it was the first to be held after a global conflict; in this case, World War Two. Belgian authorities were lauded for their organisational zeal and their readiness to overhaul local infrastructure for the occasions. For example, some 45km of new road surfaces were laid, 7.5km of tunnels dug, construction of the metro began, and Zaventem airport was built. To this day, the Heysel plateau, the site of the exhibition, is still the venue for major trade fairs throughout the year:
Brussels Expo is home to more than 115,000 square metres of space in 12 impressive halls, and hosts 60 exhibitions and 90 events every year. In the cultural sphere, Belgium can boast a number of major music events that bring in top names from around the world. Rock Werchter, held near Leuven, is one of Europe’s five biggest annual rock music festivals in Europe, and is a regular recipient of the Arthur award for best festival in the world. It can host 80,000 fans, with most spending all four days at the event. The other major festivals are the four-day alternative music bonanza Dour Festival, which offers six stages and 200 bands and DJs, and Pukkelpop, held near Hasselt, which gathers a variety of rock, dance, hip-hop, and heavy metal performances over its three days. More specialist events include the Francofolies de Spa, an annual music festival in Spa aimed at promoting French music, which draws around 200,000 visitors; and Ars Musica, an international contemporary music festival in Brussels. Les Ardentes in Liège brings a programme of rock and electronica to crowds of almost 70,000 in the lush green setting of Parc Astrid in the Coronmeuse.
Belgian authorities were lauded for their organisational zeal and their readiness to overhaul local infrastructure for the occasions
International film festivals Belgium boasts many film festivals. Mons’ International Love Film Festival was launched 28 years ago by current prime minister Elio Di Rupo, and is dedicated to love in all its forms; while Liège-born crime writer Georges Simenon is the inspiration for the city’s international crime film festival, which incorporates numerous events throughout the town. The neighbouring Walloon city of Namur has been staging the important International Francophone Film Festival for 26 years. The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, held each April, is a showcase for horror, science fiction, and fantasy movies; while the two-week Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent, in October, culminates in the World Soundtrack Awards. All this adds up to an impressive organisational tally, recognised back in 1920 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, after the Antwerp Games. “Belgium has now succeeded in setting a record of intelligent and rapid organisation or – if I am allowed to speak in less academic but more expressive terms – a new record for its skill in improvisation,” he said. Winter 2012 - 13
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international
Global arena Liège’s bid for Expo 2017 is a timely challenge for the city to show the world its international credentials and those of Wallonia-Brussels and the entire country Bernard Demonty and Sarah Crew
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elgium, despite its diminutive size, punches above its weight in international affairs. With its 30,528km2 and 11.07 million population at the last count, it has a significant standing in the world economy. According to the latest figures from the International Monetary Fund, the country is the 20th most powerful economy in the world, with a gross domestic product of €330 billion. This is largely due to Belgium’s tradition of openness to other countries and continents. In 2010, exports rose to €212 billion, which is impressive when compared to France, a country 20 times larger, which reported €392 billion in exports last year. Belgium can also thank its extensive communications network for the performance. The country benefits from a highly developed motorway system, consisting of 1,763km of motorways, the densest in Europe after the Netherlands. It also boasts an integrated freight rail network and high-speed passenger service. On the air traffic side, Belgium has three major airports (Brussels, Liège and Charleroi). It can also rely on its port infrastructure: Antwerp is the second biggest maritime port in 14 - Winter 2012
Europe and the 14th worldwide, despite port development in emerging countries. The port of Liège is also worth mentioning as it is Europe’s third most important inland port. Furthermore, Belgium extends its openness on a political level via its capital, Brussels, the seat of the European institutions. The city houses the European Union, Parliament, Commission and Council, plus the Committee of the Regions and European Economic and Social Committee. This ensures, among other things, an extraordinary media representation. But this is not confined to the international institutions and federal authorities, as Wallonia-Brussels also plays a key role. Following a number of reforms, Belgium is no longer a single state and has adopted an increasingly decentralised federal model. The Wallonia Region, Brussels-Capital Region and Wallonia-Brussels Federation have gradually received increased responsibilities. In the regions, these are linked to economy, transport, environment, property and land development, agriculture and employment. The federation’s responsibilities are connected to the individual: the health system, family allowance and education. All these federal responsibilities have been strengthened by the reform of 2010 and will be activated in the coming months. They also include important international aspects, which enable Wallonia and Brussels to have a presence and influence around the world. In practice, the federal bodies can draw on representation spread over five continents. First, they have recourse to Belgian embassies and consuls. But federalism provides additional aid to the regions, and communities such as Wallonia and Brussels also have their own presence in strategic countries and cities. Wallonia can also count on about 100 economic and commercial advisors around the world. They showcase Wallonia abroad, but are also involved in other activities, providing an important source of information about economies and markets. The Brussels-Capital Region similarly has a network of some 80 representatives with the same mission. In addition to economic attachés, Wallonia-Brussels has delegates with diplomatic status in most strategic countries. There is one to the EU and 16 others in important cities such as Paris and Berlin in Europe, Quebec and Santiago in North and
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From left: Liège airport; Cécile de France; Sang Hoon Degeimbre of l’Air du Temps; a creation by Ariane Lespire; Brussels’ Grand’Place
South America, Kinshasa and Dakar in Africa and Hanoi and Beijing in Asia. To ensure its international influence, Wallonia-Brussels possesses considerable legal clout. The regions and the Wallonia-Brussels Federation have the authority to sign cooperation agreements and projects arising from these agreements. A recent example of it exercising this power is the accord last June between the federation and Turkey relating to culture, education and training, and also involving visual arts and theatre, heritage, sport and the media. Another accord with Croatia in 2010 helped Walloon and francophone artists in Croatia and increased the profile of businesses in WalloniaBrussels and Croatia. As well as these bilateral agreements, Wallonia and Brussels are also involved in policy-making within the European institutions. Represented at the Committee of the Regions, regional and community ministers are consulted on matters concerning their competence. When questions about agriculture arise, for example, the Wallonia Minister is called upon to represent his region. Wallonia-Brussels is also present at the heart of the international francophone organisation, active in defending the values of a multicultural francophone community which respects human rights and minority expression. It also has a voice, at a consulting level, in organisations as prestigious as Unesco. To guarantee its influence and that of the French language, Wallonia-Brussels takes part in an important programme that reinforces the presence of the language of Molière in European institutions. This programme has enabled the training of some 10,000 civil servants and diplomats and has boosted the teaching of French in institutions that train future European civil servants, such
as the European College in Bruges and the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. But influence is not only a matter of treaties, conventions and organisations; it is about individual men and women. In response to this, Wallonia-Brussels has supported entrepreneurs and talented professionals in ambitious projects, in varying domains, including economic and cultural cooperation. These initiatives are well known, such as the achievements in the design sector, traditionally a Wallonia speciality. With the support of Wallonie-Bruxelles Design/Mode, 12 designers have received recognition for their talents in an international competition at the prestigious Red Dot Design Museum in Essen, Germany. Their works, supported by private business partnerships, range in scope from the interior of the Princess Elisabeth station in Antarctica, conceived with the Walloon office Nedda, to designer Danny Venlet’s creation of futuristic glass that is transparent during the day yet adopts the colour of artificial light at night. The performance of Brunehaut Brewery over the past few years shows how regional agencies can assist companies in the economic domain. Bearing the colours of Wallonia and Belgium in a market dear to the national heart, this producer of artisan beers has quadrupled its turnover abroad in four years, with the help of the regional export agency. The brewery, based in the province of Hainaut, produces and exports three abbey and three organic beers, and won the export prize in the Belgian national competition The Showcase of the Artisan last year. In the health sector, the work of Didier Giet, professor of general medicine at Liège University, is worth highlighting. With the backing of Wallonia-Brussels, he has frequently travelled abroad to learn about the needs of the population of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, principally in the area of vaccination. This has resulted in missions to set up medical outposts providing an individual service for patients who would otherwise have to attend impersonal and overpopulated hospitals. Groups of Vietnamese doctors have travelled to Belgium for
Wallonia and
Brussels are also
involved in policymaking within the
European institutions
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training in groups of five, to help equip them for the general medicine needs in their own country. Wallonia-Brussels is able to export its know-how and values in the increasingly important area of environment protection. A project set up in Mauritania last year is beginning to bear fruit, involving the plantation of a ‘green belt’ around the capital, Nouakchott. Wallonia financed 800 hectares of reforestation between 2000 and 2007, imparting its knowledge through a Wallonia forest expert, who specialises in the battle against silting. In 2010, almost 200,000 shrubs were replanted in an area covering 726 hectares. Finally, Wallonia-Brussels can count on informal ambassadors in all domains of daily life. In the sporting field, the Wallonia cycling champion Philippe Gilbert has continued to add to his trophies. The winner of the Lombardy Tour in 2009 came first this year in the Flèche Wallonne and his home race, LiègeBastogne-Liège, as well as winning stages and wearing the emblematic yellow shirt in the 2011 Tour de France. In total, he notched up 16 victories last year and is one of the sport’s most bankable stars. Belgium also boasts a fine field of international
The ex pat view
Brus s e ls: a cultur al m e lt ing p ot Emily von Sydow
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here in the world but Brussels would a theatre group perform Hamlet in French, German, Spanish and Swedish, surtitled in English? This is typical of Brussels’ vibrant cultural scene, where local and expatriate communities can enjoy performances that reflect the city’s position as a cultural crossroads in the heart of Europe. Brussels is a capital city on a human scale, with 1.1 million inhabitants in 19 communes. It has been described as “the less attractive little sister of Paris, but with a bigger heart”; a description that rings a bell with many inhabitants. It is also 16 - Winter 2012
tennis stars, and former world number one Justine Henin has set up a tennis academy in Brabant Walloon. The Liège-born athlete won seven Grand Slams during her singles career and was considered one of the greatest players of her generation. She maintains an international profile through her charity work and has also opened tennis schools in Florida and China. In the cinema world, there are numerous actors and directors who attract international attention. Actor Benoît Poelvoorde (C’est arrivé près de chez vous, Podium, Mon pire cauchemar) continues a brilliant career, as do Cécile de France (Talk Show, Le Gamin au vélo, Mauvaise foi), also from Namur, and Liègeborn Marie Gillain (Coco avant Chanel, Magique, Les Femmes de l’ombre). There is no shortage of directors in Brussels and Wallonia, either. Currently courting extensive media coverage is Bouli Lanners (Eldorado, Les Géants) and the Dardenne brothers, winners at Cannes of the Palme d’Or in 1999 for Rosetta and in 2005 for l’Enfant, and in 2011 they won the
probably one of the factors behind the city’s honourable 15th place in the ranking of quality of life for expats compared to other cities housing a large international community. It proudly boasts a higher score than Amsterdam, New York and Berlin in the City RepTrak rankings, based on interviews with 35,000 citizens from all over the world responding to questions about the reputation of a city and a country in which to do business. The green neighbourhoods that surround the city centre combine with the comfort and convenience of a central location, and property is affordable compared to in other major cities. The city’s image as a haven only for bureaucrats is changing, says Ans Persoons, of the Brussels-Europe Liaison Office. Brussels is right in the middle of the megalopolis known as the ‘blue banana’, a concept created by a French geographer in 1989, which draws a banana-shaped corridor of urban conglomerates from Leeds in the north east to Milan in the south west. Brussels is thus within reach of a huge amount of Europe’s population. According to EU statistics, some 30,000 people work in the institutions in Brussels. Three quarters of them are non-Belgians and a majority live in the Brussels region. And it’s not only the European institutions that have made Brussels their
From left: the Princess Elisabeth polar station; designer hats by Elvis Pompilio; the film-directing Dardenne brothers; a manon praline by Marcolini
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For many locals and visitors, the allure of Wallonia-Brussels lies in its excellent homegrown regional produce and profusion of world-class restaurants. Both the artisan and agricultural food industry are booming, making the region a flourishing market garden for neighbouring countries. Michelin-star Grand Prize for Le Gamin au vélo. Other distinguished names red restaurants and top-flight chefs include the two-star gasare Benoît Mariage (L’Autre, Convoyeurs attendent, Cowboy) tronomic l’Air du Temps, whose chef, Sang Hoon Degeimbre, leads the country in pioneering fusion and molecular cuisine. and Lucas Belvaux (La Raison plus faible, Trilogie), brother of the late actor-director Rémy Belvaux (Man Bites Dog). Traditional local produce includes not only cheese and charLiège has also built on its applied arts tradition in forging a cuterie, but also condiments (Bister mustard), chocolate (Marnew reputation for fashion and design. While many original colini, Laurent Gerbaud, Jean-Philippe Darcis and Duval), bisstylists and designers developed their cuits (Delacre, Destrée and Spécul’house), syrups by Aubel and Delvaux, pekèt careers abroad, the current vogue are The current vogue liqueurs, numerous beers (Bush, Moinette, establishing an international reputation Cuvée des Trolls and Chimay) and newer from within the country’s borders. Joinare establishing an products such as Belgian Owl whisky and ing the recognised fashion names Jeanaward-winning wines (Ruffus, Château Paul Lespagnard, Véronique Leroy, Elvis international reputation Bon Baron, Chenoy and Roisin). Among Pompilio and Ariane Lespire are among a from within the clutch of emerging and head-turning stars, the locals who have created an internaincluding Monsieur Bul, Céline Pinckers, tional brand is Alain Coumont, with his country’s borders bakery and café chain Le Pain Quotidien. Giovanni Biasiola and Filles à Papa. On This catalogue of individuals, instituthe design front, two stellar creators are tions and diverse projects contributes to the positive image the Brussels-based Xavier Lust, whose lighting and furniture is gracing the world’s finest stores and museums, and Laurence of Belgium and Wallonia-Brussels around the world. It is to Humier, who divides her time between Belgium and Milan. be hoped that Liège in 2017 will be another shining examHer foldable creation Meeting Chairs has garnered worldwide ple of the region and country’s ability to welcome visitors recognition and is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in from abroad to sample its talent, rich culture and love of the New York. good life.
home: hundreds of global companies have set up their EuroIn order to meet the needs of this multilingual community, pean headquarters in Brussels, such as Pfizer, Toyota, General several international schools, including the European instituElectric, Monsanto and Levi Strauss. tions’ own schools, have been established, and international The total number of lobbyists working in the city is difficult universities offer a wide range of educational possibilities in to define, but 15,000 is probably the minimum. If lobbyists are addition to the Belgian system. defined as regional offices, trade union As the capital of Europe, Brussels has representatives and so on, the number developed strong transport links with the rises to 100,000. The number of staff in rest of the world. ‘Welcome to Europe’ The city’s image regional offices is the category that has signs greet passengers arriving at Brusgrown the most in recent years. sels’ international airport, which reported as only a haven The European institutions and their 17 million passengers in 2010. The airport for bureaucrats is ‘followers’, as the lobbies and organisais among the largest in Europe, and the tions are known, occupy 30 percent of the rail infrastructure means Brussels is conchanging 10 million m2 office space available in the nected with continental Europe and the UK city. The diplomatic corps is the world’s via high-speed trains. biggest, as 6,400 diplomats work for bilateral embassies to BelThe Thalys takes you to central Paris in 90 minutes and to gium and representations to the EU institutions and Nato. Charles de Gaulle airport in 80, while London is a two-hour The international press corps is also massive, with almost journey from Brussels with the Eurostar. Northbound trains 1,300 accredited journalists and technicians covering the connect the city to Amsterdam and Schiphol airport, while political machinery of Brussels. The media corps shrunk for Cologne and Frankfurt in Germany are equally convenient. a while when editors found online correspondents far more All this ensures that the city thrives, partly thanks to its influx economical than those in situ, but this trend has slowly been of international citizens who enjoy working and living in such a reversed. multicultural and colourful capital. Winter 2012 - 17
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Get connected Liège’s Expo 2017 bid focuses on the technological revolution that is bringing the world ever closer together Jennifer Baker
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e live in an increasingly connected world. The internet has connected the vast majority of people to the rest of the world in a way we could never have imagined, bringing with it a wealth of opportunity and information. Liège’s bid for the Expo in 2017 will highlight the power and importance of connectivity, under the banner ‘Connecting the world, linking people, better living together’. Already, in places such as Japan, 12 percent of citizens, consumers and companies have access to ultra-fast internet via fibre networks. In Korea, the figure is 15 percent. Europe is currently not so far advanced in this regard – most of us are connected to the internet at home via oldfashioned copper wires – but that is about to change. It is the aim of the European Commission to get ‘every European digital’ by 2020. By this, they mean they want coverage for every European to fast broadband of more than 30 megabits per second; and to get 50 percent of households subscribing to ultra-fast speeds of more than 100 megabits per second.
Broadband funding In order to do that, the European Commission is making a substantial investment. It has proposed to spend almost €9.2 billion from 2014 to 2020 on pan-European projects to give EU citizens and businesses access to high-speed broadband networks and the services that run on them. The funding, part of the proposed Connecting Europe Facility, would take the form of equity and debt instruments and grants. It would complement private investment and public money at local, regional and national level and EU structural or cohesion funds. And, most importantly, at least €7 billion would be available for investment in highspeed broadband infrastructure. Belgium is already ahead of the game in connectivity. Fixed broadband access is widely available and broadband take-up stands at 31 percent, while household take-up is at 73 per cent. As for speeds, Belgium in general is better than the EU average. Voo – the main internet provider in Wallonia – offers download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second (and upload speeds up to 2.5 megabits per second). This is currently less than in the Brussels region and Flanders, but in practice, more than 70 percent of the Belgian population can potentially download files at a rate of 20 megabits per second.
Spectrum issues Although the European Commission wants to see increased investment in fibre networks, it is also pushing for more wireless broadband. To facilitate this, they want more wireless spectrum opened up for broadband internet use. The so-called ‘digital dividend’ – the wireless spectrum freed up by television moving to digital formats – could be a great help here. In particular, the Commission wants all EU countries to allow access to the 800MHz band by 2013. In Belgium, mobile broadband take-up on notebook computers is only at 2.7 percent of the population, compared to the EU average of 7.2 percent. However, smartphones are a different matter: Belgium’s 3G network already boasts 90 percent coverage and the upgrade to a 4G network will soon be made.
The region has stressed the role of these technologies in the lives of citizens and government activities. Indeed, the policies initiated by the Walloon Region are designed to prevent a digital divide between those with access to new information technologies and those without. To further promote this, centres of competence with modern facilities train people and companies to make better use of the internet. These are: • Technifutur (Liège region) • Technocité (Mons region) • Technofutur3 (Charleroi region) • Techno.bel (Luxembourg and Namur regions)
Online habits Belgium ranks among the top countries in terms of both regular and frequent internet use. Some 75 percent of Belgians use the
Liège’s Technifutur is a centre of internet at least once a week, and competence composed of 14 areas 60 percent access the internet almost every day. Belgians are of activity, including aeronautics, above-average users of the most image and multimedia, energy and environment, and computer science. common internet services, such Its missions include training, educaas reading online newspapers tion, advice, support for research and or magazines, downloading, development, e-learning and e-busilistening to or watching music ness, for workers, job seekers, teachand making significant use of ers and students. social networking sites such as The revolution in communications Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. is a relatively recent one, and it is having a significant impact on everyday life, encouraging more frequent exchanges, offering new ways of working and prompting a shift in our relationship with our heritage and the world around us. Belgium is geographically located at the heart of Europe and the Liège Expo aims to demonstrate its desire to reach out to the rest of the world. The goal is to provide a universal platform for exchanging know-how about the communication technologies of the future.
The e-economy Belgium’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector is also hugely important to the economy. According to BusinessBelgium, it currently contributes more than 4 percent of Belgium’s gross domestic product, and between 1997 and 2007 it accounted for a sixth of the country’s growth in GDP. The latest IT Industry Competitiveness Index ranked Belgium in 22nd place worldwide. Buying online content and ordering goods or service online are similar to the EU average, while cross-border e-commerce stands well above the EU norm (19.7 percent relative to the EU average of 8.8 percent). In Wallonia, the Walloon Telecommunications Agency (AWT) promotes universal access to information technology and communication and encourages their widespread use. According to AWT, there are more than 850 companies active in this sector in the Walloon Region. In particular, Google and Microsoft both have operations at a hightech business park in Mons.
Technology in action at Technobel
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21st-century health Evolving technologies have the potential to revolutionise the way we manage our health and that of our families Tania Rabesandratana
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onnectivity can touch our lives in very personal ways: our body, mind and health, our home and family. Information and communication technology (ICT) has the power to make our lives not just easier but also healthier, and e-health – the use of ICT to treat patients, carry out research or monitor public health – is likely to transform our daily lives in the next decade. Liège Expo will put the spotlight on a wealth of opportunities for well-connected well-being. “We try to project ourselves into what will be possible in 2017,” says Simon Alexandre, manager of Walloon research centre CETIC (see box, right) and scientific adviser for Liège Expo 2017. “What are researchers working on today that will be available in seven or fifteen years?” In its Master Plan: Creative Wallonia released in June, the region envisioned how ICT would transform a day in the life of a Walloon family in 2025. For example, the family’s grandmother, Claire, is 77 years old and lives alone. Like many people of her age, Claire suffers from chronic diseases including high blood pressure, and must watch her blood sugar levels. The scenario says that she has a blood pressure meter and a glycaemia control kit, connected wirelessly to a mobile monitoring device. The measurements are sent automatically to her doctor, who collates them into her secured personal health record. If the doctor decides that Claire needs extra tests based on these results, he can make an appointment directly with the hospital and inform Claire and her family automatically through a secure email service. This is not just science fiction: scientists in Belgium and beyond are already working on making this seamless approach to e-health a reality. This starts with a series of sensors that measure parameters in our body – such as our weight, heart rate or blood pressure. These sensors will be integrated in a portable device like Claire’s, or they will be implanted directly in our body – for example, in our joints, our brain or in a prosthesis. This will be particularly important to help patients with chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular conditions or diabetes. The data captured by these sensors will then be sent wirelessly and stored in our personal health record. While today our medical history is stored and managed by doctors and hospitals, this personal health record will be managed by patients. Alexandre says: “The idea is simple but there are a lot of technological requirements behind it: building sensors, operating systems and sharing data that are compatible.”
Walloon players CETIC
PCSOL
Based in Charleroi, CETIC is
Founded in 1988, PCSOL is
the Belgian centre for applied
a Belgian ICT company that
ICT research, dedicated to
specialises in developing
supporting industry. Founded
solutions for the management
in 2001 by three universities in
of health records by general
Namur, Louvain-la-Neuve and
practitioners. PCSOL has a
Mons, it provides expertise in
keen interest to extend this
software engineering, innovative
management to other healthcare
services technologies, cloud
professionals or to the patients
computing and embedded
themselves. With headquarters
systems. For example, CETIC’s
in Liège as well as offices in
experts can help businesses
Brussels and Tunisia, PCSOL
build up their research activities,
focuses on the development of
develop ICT projects or design
open source software.
prototypes.
www.pcsol.be
www.cetic.be
Neurotech
Polymedis
Neurotech specialises in
Polymedis is a university spin-
medical devices that can
off created in 2003 to develop
be implanted in the human
a range of solutions to manage
brain to stimulate the nerves
electronic patient records.
directly, to treat conditions
Its products already help to
such as epilepsy. For example,
manage medical data related
Neurotech has taken part in the
to about 11,000 hospital beds
development of an electronic
and 700,000 emergency cases
implant linked to a tiny camera
per year in Belgium, France and
that can help blind patients
Luxembourg. Based in Mons,
recover some vision. Based in
Polymedis aims to become the
Louvain-la-Neuve and founded
country’s leader in the field.
in 1996, the company is at the
www.polymedis.com
forefront of research in its field. www.neurotech.be
Vitaltronics Vitaltronics is a telemedicine company based in Louvainla-Neuve since 2008. Its star products include the Glucom, a device that can send blood sugar level values from a glucose monitor directly to a mobile phone. Its ‘iPod of health’ will be available within five years – a portable health monitor that will alert patients and doctors when necessary. www.vitaltronics. be
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natural sc ienc e Not getting any younger Ageing is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges ahead for developed countries. • In 2010, the proportion of elderly people living in Wallonia was about 23 percent, and this figure is expected to rise to 32 percent in 2060, putting a strain on pensions and healthcare spending. • In the same period, the average life expectancy of Belgian people at birth would rise from about 83 to 89 years for women and from about 78 to 86 years for men. • The challenge for e-health is to make our senior years not only longer but also healthier, more active and better connected.
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Source: Statbel www.statbel.fgov.be
The year of active ageing Active ageing is the focus of several projects in the EU in 2012. The European authorities have in effect declared that the year will be
Smart home
devoted to this theme, and to solidarity between generations. This ini-
Beyond our own body, the objects around us will also be connected and work as our invisible guardian angels. Our most familiar domestic objects, from our kettle to our bedroom door, will also be equipped with sensors. These objects will monitor our movements or our use of gas and water, for example, and communicate wirelessly with the rest of the world in the case of problems. “Imagine, for instance, a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease,” Alexandre says. “If we know that she gets up between 8.00 and 9.00 every day, an object connected to the internet will be able to send an alert if it doesn’t happen.” All these research avenues depend on the robustness of the underlying internet infrastructure. “You will have a very powerful internet network wherever you go, whether through a wire or wireless. It would be broadband, very secure and reliable,” Alexandre says. “And of course there are important technical, ethical and legal issues surrounding privacy. We must make sure that patients can protect their data in a secure system, and that, for instance, insurance companies wouldn’t have uncontrolled access to this data for commercial purposes. At all stages of research and deployment, you mustn’t forget to ensure security and trust.”
2060, the continent will have only two people of working age (15 to 64
A global shift The benefits of e-health are not limited to the richer parts of the globe. The World Health Organisation has long acknowledged the potential of ICT to change healthcare globally. For example, telemedicine uses ICT to overcome geographical barriers – this can help rural communities in developing countries that have little access to healthcare. In 2005, the United Nations’ agency urged its member states to draw up long-term plans to develop e-health infrastructure and services. WHO also set up the Global Observatory for e-health to review progress in different countries, and provide guidance on the best policies and standards to boost e-health across the world. 22 - Winter 2012
tiative aims to provide answers to the ageing population in Europe. By years) for every citizen aged over 65. Today, the ratio is four to one. 2012 will see the launch of various projects to enhance the skills and participation of older workers, who are too often seen as a burden.
The end of the lab mouse? Bioinformatics researchers are also busy building up a virtual human being: a comprehensive computer-based model that will replicate a body’s intricate functions and reactions. Alexandre explains: “You could reconstruct the organs and their functions, and how they interact with other organs.” This ‘virtual patient’ will be used to test new drugs instead of in vitro or on humans in clinical trials. This means drugs will be tried out at a much earlier stage in the research chain, so unpromising avenues will be abandoned sooner and the drug development process speeded up. In addition, this human model will make drug development much more precise and predictable. Scientists will be able to test drug candidates not only in a healthy virtual patient, but also in a model tailored to reflect, for example, a common disease or a person’s genetic profile. Researchers will obtain a detailed view of how a molecule is absorbed, distributed in the body and excreted. They will be able to determine what dosage might work best, or check if a potential drug has side-effects and under what exact circumstances they occur. In short, such a virtual patient will transform the way drugs are made – but the revolution is still many years off. This field of research is still young and “developing such a model will require a monumental global effort,” according to the study Pharma 2020: Virtual R&D, published in 2008 by international consultancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Liège Expo 2017 will provide inspiration to shape this vision.
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Archiving the future The future of culture is digital, as the Liège Expo plans to demonstrate Anna Jenkinson
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he ways in which information and communication technology (ICT) tools influence culture largely fall into two camps: on the one hand, there is technology that allows the preservation and further understanding of our cultural heritage; and on the other, technology as a creative force. In selecting culture as one of its themes, Liège Expo 2017 plans to embrace both aspects. The cultural offerings at the Expo are also set to cut across the personal space, the city space and the global space. As such, the exposition is likely to include technological advances that affect the artistic creator at home, the visitor to the city museum and global bodies concerned with cultural matters such as Unesco. Augmented reality is one technological development with the potential to have a big impact in the future, says Simon Alexandre, director of CETIC, an applied research centre in Wallonia that works with companies in the field of ICT and
is helping the Liège Expo organisers. Augmented reality is a broad-ranging term, but essentially it refers to the ability to look at a real-life scene and then, with the help of technology, receive extra information or data to improve, or augment, your understanding of reality. Alexandre illustrates his point with the example of a trip to a museum. “You could take your smartphone to the museum, point it at an artwork and it would recognise the image, connect to an online database and provide information and context about that particular artwork,” he says. “By using cross-referencing tools, links could also be made to other related works or artistic movements.”
The cultural offerings at the Expo will cut across the personal space, the city space and the global space
Digital archives
The digitalisation of cultural heritage is an area that several companies, organisations and government departments have been exploring for years in Belgium. In the audiovisual field, for example, the Brussels-based archiving services company Memnon is involved in the digitalisation of more than 700,000 hours of sound and video archives for cultural institutions and audiovisual organisations throughout Europe, including the European Parliament and the British Library.
Memnon provides archiving services for numerous cultural institutions
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As the company says, “we are capable of offering digivideo installations to digital art and from the incorporation talisation services for practically any sound and video of ICT tools in music to the use of technology in theatre and medium.” Closer to home, one of its projects is with Sonuma, dance. Creativity and technological innovation are at the the company set up in January 2009 to preserve, digitalise heart of what the Numediart Institute for New Media Art and promote the archives of Belgium’s French-language Technology does. radio and television company, RTBF. Founded in 2007 by the University Belgium’s French-speaking Comof Mons, the institute organises scienmunity is encouraging such archivtific training and research activities ing initiatives, not just at audiovisual in the area of new media art technolwww.numeriques.be ogy. Numediart covers a wide range of institutions, but also in museums, libraries and archive centres. In Octotopics, including audio, image, video, www.memnon.be ber 2007, the French-speaking Comwww.numediart.org gesture and bio-signal processing for www.europeana.eu munity government launched a plan applications in which man-machine aimed at protecting cultural heritage interaction aims to create emotions. Thanks to digital technology research by preserving collections in a digital format and ensuring they are interopin these areas, new forms of works are erable, so they can be accessed by the being created. services and institutions of the FrenchThere is no doubt that ICT is affectspeaking Community, educational ing the world of culture in ways that networks, researchers and the public were unforeseeable just a few years at large. Financing is provided to help ago. Liège Expo aims to highlight this cultural institutions and organisations connection by showcasing the best digitalise their works. of culture and technology, both from home and from the rest of the world.
Useful links
Online heritage research The Community is also developing a common portal from which all the online databases and websites will be accessible. A prototype for this portal will be up and running early in 2012, with plans to go live a year later, says Evelyne Lentzen from the Community’s General Delegation for the digitalisation of cultural heritage. She summed up the importance of the cultural digitalisation plan by saying, “It’s archiving the future.” These issues are also on the agenda at an EU level, most visibly through Europeana, an online access point to Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage. “The objective is to put online the collections held by Europe’s libraries, archives, museums and audiovisual archives – vast numbers of books and periodicals (there are some 2.5 billion items in Europe’s libraries alone), and millions of hours of film and video covering the whole of Europe’s diverse history and culture,” according to the European Commission’s website. In a November 18 speech, Androulla Vassiliou, the Commissioner responsible for culture, told delegates at a culture summit in Avignon that a number of obstacles needed to be overcome before digitalisation could achieve its full potential for growth and jobs. Intellectual property rights, market fragmentation, internet piracy and counterfeiting are all issues that must be addressed in order to build a “thriving creative economy”, Vassiliou said. As for technology acting as a trigger for artistic creations, many innovations have been seen in recent years, from 24 - Winter 2012
Getting with the cultural programme As part of its bid, Liège is underlining the city’s cultural richness, pointing out that not only does it have cultural connections with names such as cinema’s Dardenne brothers, Georges Simenon, the creator of the fictional Inspector Maigret, and the violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe, but the city is also home to a royal opera, philharmonic orchestra and national theatre. Liège’s cultural modernisation plans are also presented as an asset. The Royal Opera, for example, is undergoing renovation work, while the Théâtre de la Place is moving to a prestigious neoclassical building; both of these projects should be completed by 2015. The city is also planning to open a new International Centre for Art and Culture on the bank of the river Meuse in time for the Expo. Liège is keen to stress its links with other Belgian towns as well as crossborder partnerships, for example with Mons, which is to be European Capital of Culture for 2015, and Maastricht, just over the Dutch border, which is bidding for the same title in 2018 on behalf of the entire Meuse-Rhine Euroregion. For the Expo, an area of 27,500m2 is to be dedicated to culture and celebrations, ranging from an amphitheatre on the edge of the river Meuse to a ‘carnival boulevard’ and a semicovered open-air theatre. If it were to win, Liège Expo says it would offer visitors a “magical and unforgettable” cultural programme.
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Technology in the classroom
educ ation
Digital learning for life Technology is at the heart of the changing face of education, as Liège plans to showcase Anna Jenkinson
T
he information and communication technology (ICT) revolution of the past decade is transforming the world of education and training. Advances in technology have created richer and more motivating ways of teaching and learning in the classroom, they have made distance learning more accessible and interactive, and they have allowed learning to be personalised. As part of its bid to host the Expo in 2017, Liège wants to showcase and share the digital solutions available around the world for people at every stage of their life, from primary school through to adult education. For the education theme as for the other themes of Liège’s bid, the tricky part is coming up with concrete ideas of what will be included when the world of technology changes so quickly. “ICT evolves very quickly. In this field, five years is an eternity,” says Simon Alexandre, director of CETIC, an applied
research centre in Wallonia that works with companies in the field of ICT and is helping the Liège Expo organisers. “Ideas that are at the research and development stage today will be reality in 2017,” he says. So what kind of advances may be made? One change that is like to happen is a wider use of e-learning applications. Tablets such as the iPad are still relatively new on the market and not yet within the budget of most pupils, Alexandre points out. The prices will come down though, and as tablets become available to a much wider public there will be a rapid development in e-learning applications, he says.
One change that is likely to happen is a wider use of e-learning applications
E-learning programmes
One Liège resident who has a lot of experience in the use of ICT tools in education is Marianne Poumay, a professor at the University of Liège and director of the e-learning initiative LabSET. Having been developing and evaluating e-learning programmes for the last decade, she has a good idea of the difference they can make. “ICT is like a pen or pencil you need to learn and teach. Why do without it, when you can do better with it?” she says. Liège University has a virtual campus, created by Winter 2012 - 25
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educ ation LabSET about a decade ago, which provides online support for students. Some activities that used to be done in the classroom are now done online; others have been created to complement class learning, such as case-based learning activities where students explore and analyse specific situations, sometimes in virtual groups that bring together different faculties.
LabSET has developed, and continues to develop, various online projects, some by itself, others with partners. Take for example CIUF, the Frenchspeaking Community’s interuniversity council, which aims to help a greater percentage of first-year university students succeed. Online videos, problem-solving activities and ‘back-to-basics’ tutorials aim to help students master the skills they need to pass their first year. While the finances and resources are not available to provide individual support in the physical world, it is possible in the virtual world. The CIUF tool also enables students to monitor their progress and ensure they’re on track. The aim is for students to be able to manage their skills individually.
Online education
Liège University professor Marianne Poumay
Integrating ICT into education is an aim of the Walloon regional government
ICT technology has not just brought advantages to students; teachers are benefiting too. Liège University is trying to share its experiences; for example, it has an online degree course to improve teaching skills that is also available to teachers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “We want other people to be able to use what we have
Ardent Liège Expo 2017 isn’t the only international event that Liège is bidding for in the coming years. The town is also preparing a bid to host the 2016 Congress of the International Federation of French Teachers (La Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Français, or FIPF). The FIFP represents 80,000 French teachers, through associations and federations, from 140 countries around the globe. The international congress, held every four years, attracts about 1,500 delegates who come to learn about the latest global developments in teaching French. As the bid organisers say in a statement, holding the Congress in Liège would be “a happy prelude” to the International Expo in 2017 were the city to win. In its bid for the 2016 teachers’ congress, Liège’s slogan is ‘French, an ardent language’ (‘Le français, langue ardente’), conjuring up notions of burning enthusiasm and passion as well as being a play on words as Liège’s nickname is the Ardent City. www.fipf-Liege-2016.be 26 - Winter 2012
© Institut Destrée / The Destree Institute
Back-to-basics teaching
here,” says Poumay. The online course, which is recognised under the Bologna Process and thereby assures quality and standards, can be tailored to their specific teaching needs so the skills learned help improve their teaching, she explains.
Digital schooling
Integrating ICT into education is an aim of the Walloon regional government, as spelled out in ICT Master Plan: Creative Wallonia, published in June 2011. The regional government wants to move from the system that exists today to “a truly digital school”. In order to achieve this, the document contains many ideas including the following: deploying a broadband school network so that all school buildings will have high-speed internet access by 2016; organising calls for tender to involve the private sector in creating new digital approaches to teaching and learning, for example with cloud computing or serious games (the use of games in education and training); and reassessing the school curriculum in order to integrate ICT skills. Such a rethink about education is also going on at a European Union level. Following a public consultation on the future European programme in education and training, a report summarising the results had many ICTrelated points. Recommendations included the need to put more emphasis on digital skills and new innovative curricula and pedagogical approaches such as serious games, encouraging virtual mobility, and placing more emphasis on funding activities linked to ICT. By including education as one of its themes, Liège Expo 2017 aims to show how ICT and education are crucial for the future, using initiatives in Liège, Wallonia and Belgium as a springboard for sharing ideas with the world.
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Liege 2017
The right location Wallonia leads the way in logistics innovations Julian Hale
M
ost people know Belgium is at the heart of Europe when it comes to the decision-making machinations of the European Union, but they may not be aware of what expertise Wallonia offers. With the Liège Expo 2017 bid flying the banner ‘Connecting the world, linking people, better living together’, transport and communications technology are pivotal themes. Freedom of movement of people and goods is an integral part of the EU and a key driver of European economies. Goods need to be transported intact, safely and quickly, so sound logistics management is paramount. Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a major role by tracking goods and optimising routes. Wallonia has two major organisations providing support for companies to develop expertise in the area of transport and ICT: the Belgian centre for applied research for companies in the ICT sector (CETIC) and the Logistics in Wallonia innovation network.
and the seventh largest cargo airport in Europe. In 2010, a total of 640,000 tonnes of goods passed through Liège airport, which is also developing its passenger activities (300,000 passengers in 2010). In less than 15 years, 10,000 jobs have been created at the airport and a further 6,800 indirectly. The amount of cargo traffic passing through Liège is still growing, despite the economic and financial crisis sweeping the world. In November, Liège airport announced that, from January to October 2011, the volume of goods handled there rose by 5.84 percent compared to the same period in 2010. Business is set to boom even further, especially after its main runway was extended in September 2010. The The new port comprises three airport specialises distinct zones, spread over 100 i n t r a n s p or t i ng hectares between the Meuse freight, including and the Albert canal: fresh food, flowers 1. A container port to handle and animals (espe285,000 containers per year cially horses). It is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Another major airport 2. A traditional port zone in Wallonia is Charleroi airport, which 3. A logistics zone dedicated to specialises in low-cost carriers. European distribution centres. Also of note is the Autonomous Port of Liège, a string of more than two dozen Work begins in January 2012 and individual ports from which freight will take a year and a half. The can be transported far into the heart of total investment is €158 million Europe – into Germany to south-east and it will create 2,000 jobs. Europe or via France to the south-west. Much of its traffic comes from the sea port
Freedom of movement of people and goods is an integral part of the EU
Well connected Belgium and Wallonia are well served in terms of road, air, water and rail links for individual travellers and the distribution and logistics industry. For a start, there are two major airports in Wallonia. Liège is Belgium’s largest cargo airport
Trilogiport
2 1
3
2
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transpor t transporting merchandise rapidly by rail. As far as logistics are concerned, Belgium came first out of 25 countries in a ranking of the best countries in Europe to locate a distribution or logistics centre, according to a report by research group Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker in 2008. It said: “Belgium has remained in first position as a result of low property and building costs.”
Boosting the region’s transport and logistics expertise
100 km 200 km 300 km 400 km
Liège is a major transport hub
of Antwerp before travelling inland to Liège. As the third largest inland port in Europe (with 21 The main reasons for Liège’s million tonnes of merchandise in 2010), Liège is top ranking are: increasingly considered a maritime holding port due to the lack of storage areas in Antwerp and • excellent access to the main Rotterdam. It has therefore started building a triEuropean markets modal rail-road-waterway platform called Trilog• a central geographic iport, one of Liège’s most location important redeployment • top transport infrastructure projects. and volume, close to main Overall traffic (water, ports or with good multimodal links to these ports rail and road) through the port grew by 15 per• low costs for land, cent in 2010 compared to warehouses and labour 2009, and traffic trans• a labour force that is available, highly productive, ported by water grew skilled for supply chain jobs by 17 percent. In addiand has good language tion, the Albert canal knowledge connects Wallonia to Germany, the rest of the Benelux area and southern Europe, as well as the UK via the English Channel. The Walloon Ministry of Equipment and Transport’s Directorate for the Promotion of Inland Waterways and Intermodality points out that, unlike other means of transport such as road and rail, which are close to saturation point, transport on Wallonia’s waterways has not reached its full potential. In October, the European Commission adopted a €31.6 million proposal to connect Europe’s road, rail and transport networks. The Autonomous Port of Liège is a priority European network and the modernisation of the Albert canal is a project under consideration in this context. In terms of rail links, Wallonia is served by the three principal northern European high-speed train networks: Thalys and TGV to France and the Netherlands, Eurostar to the UK and ICE to Germany. These are, of course, passenger services, but the infrastructures put in place will also soon be used as the basis for the EuroCarex network, which will, in 2015, connect Liège to London, Amsterdam, Paris and Lyon,
Wallonia is making the most of its excellent transport links and its prime location for logistics centres by working on a large number of projects. The establishment of competitiveness clusters is a major part of Wallonia’s 2005 Marshall Plan for economic recovery. One of these clusters, Logistics in Wallonia: Transport & Logistics, sets up innovation pilot projects (funded by the Walloon Region), acts as a networking conduit and seeks to attract foreign direct investment in Wallonia. Logistics in Wallonia prepares calls for tender for research funds for consortia that must include one large company (more than 250 employees), one small company (fewer than 250 employees) and two research centres such as universities. CETIC, the Belgian centre for applied research for companies in the ITC sector, is then responsible for managing the projects. The idea behind one project, called eCMR, or Transport, Embedded and Communications Systems, is to move from paper-based data collection for goods vehicles to an electronic system. “In the domain of transport and logistics, three players are to be found,” explains Charles-André Verschueren, innovation manager of Logistics in Wallonia:
Unlike other means of transport, which are close to saturation point, transport on Wallonia’s waterways has not reached its full potential
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• those placing the orders, who have merchandise to be transported • transport-logistics companies that provide solutions to the former • technological and scientific services providers, who can supply innovative solutions to those on the ground.
“Our role is to promote research that may lead to technological solutions for which we can obtain a patent, solutions that add value to the whole of the sector,” says Verschueren. One project that has received the Logistics in Wallonia label is a four-year (2007-10), €16.4 million one involving 27 partners, called Translogistics. The lead company was French business Alstom, which specialises in the rail industry with an operating site close to Charleroi. As Stéphane De Ketelaere, of Wallonia research centre Multitel, one of the partners in the project, explains: “Its objective was to enable part of the information and communications technologies to play a role in the development of a total combined transport system, integrating road, rail and waterways in Wallonia.” The results included an innovative tracking and tracing system enabling merchandise to be located at the level of a maritime container and its contents, irrespective of its mode of transport.
Liege 2017
environment Liège sets a green example
venhoevencs architecture + urbanism
The Expo 2017 plans to show the world how to live sustainably Emma Portier-Davis
Green credentials for Liège Expo 2017
O
nce renowned for its coal and steel works, the city of Liège has been undergoing a metamorphosis and shedding its industrial grime. Where once slagheaps featured on the horizon, overshadowing the few monumental sights that survived the World Wars, the city is now home to stunning architectural feats such as its futuristic Liège-Guillemins railway station, designed by world-famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. And its story of reinvention is not over yet, as the city looks to further clean up and green up its act. As part of its bid to host the 2017 World Expo, Liège’s planned revamp will not only smarten up the city but also showcase its green credentials. Pavilions that will house the Expo and planned developments for the Meuse waterfront will be built with their future use in mind – as an eco district on the Coronmeuse peninsula between the city and the municipality of Herstal, giving Liège green public spaces, accessible by environmentally friendly transport such as bikes and a tram. At the heart of Europe and at a crossroads between major international cities such as Brussels and Maastricht, Liège’s eco-district would demonstrate to the rest of the world how such developments can go hand in hand with environmental goals as we face an increasing threat of irreversible damage from climate change. It would also address human
health needs as we become increasingly aware of our connection with the environment. “Liège should become an example of how a city uses the river, and of a family-friendly, sustainable mixed neighbourhood,” explains Katharina Hagg, architect at Dutch firm VenhoevenCS architecture+urbanism, which was commissioned by consultants McKinsey to submit a tender for the Expo project for an eco district. “The Expo will show the relevance of this topic in all of our spheres of life.”
Connectivity and environment The connectivity theme underpinning the Expo is explained by those responsible for Liège’s bid to host the Expo as “the technological phenomenon that is making it increasingly easy and fast to create links between an astounding number of women and men worldwide”. The link to environment is the value that technology brings in terms of its “contribution to the personal development of individuals and to the solidarity between them”. According to Hagg, the theme of connectivity and the environment can work on many levels, from the buildings to the district to the region. “A building should work as a city and a city should work as a building,” she says, adding that the public buildings and spaces should be places for people Winter 2012 - 29
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environment
During the Expo
Expo numbers Key to the project
During
is the development
• Pavilions 108,000m
of buildings for their
• Services 20,000m2
• Services 25,000m2
future use, rather
• Entertainment 15,000m2
• A hotel 7,500m2
After 2
• Housing 130,00
than specifically
• Office space 35,000m2
for the Expo
• A stock exchange 20,000m2
to meet and see different people and that they should provide enrichment. “And, of course, they should be interesting and beautiful.” Hagg says key to the theme is that the Expo buildings are not built solely for the event and then left to languish, as has been the case, she says, with sites in Valencia and Hannover. Rather, they should be built for their future purpose, with their use for the Expo being tangential. “The buildings are designed as the future eco neighbourhood that the area should become after the Expo. Only during the Expo they’re outfitted and used differently.”
Smart thinking The theme of Liege’s bid is ‘Connecting the world, linking people, better living together’, with information and communication technology at its heart. Smart technology is also being put to good use where the environment is concerned. Energy will be gathered from renewable sources, with solar panels installed on roofs and the sides of buildings. The solar energy they provide will power the pavilions’ air 30 - Winter 2012
conditioning, lighting and water filtering systems. In all the buildings and in certain zones of the Expo site, cables and pipes will be conceived with the environment in mind, limiting water consumption, reducing emissions and making the most efficient use of energy possible. A smart grid (an intelligent electricity distribution network) will minimise energy loss and will continue to be used post-Expo. The project anticipates an infrastructure that connects to the utility services and also ensures they remain in good working order. It means that all buildings on the masterplan will be equipped with the necessary services which will function with maximum flexibility as regards installation and type. Hot and cold water will be produced by heat pumps and heat exchangers. It will be stored in public reservoirs, ready to provide refreshment in warm weather and to provide hot water when needed. Rainwater will be collected for watering lawns, cleaning toilets, washing floors and other tasks. This way, significant savings of drinking water can be made.
The legacy of Liège Getting the environmental features right within the buildings (which, the city has decided, must meet strict environmental standards) and the district will pave the way for a broader connectivity with other regions. Part of the project is for a tram system that could be used to link Liège – the economic capital of the Walloon Region – with the municipality of Herstal but also with other cities such as Maastricht, Hasselt and Aachen. In Europe, regulators are moving to limit road transport emissions and encourage a switch to more sustainable
venhoevencs architecture + urbanism
After the Expo
methods of transport. Bolstering public transport between cities would be a major stepping stone to decarbonising the region’s roads, as Europe approaches its legally binding 2020 deadline to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels. Its days as an industrial powerhouse set the tone for much of the city’s development. “The central parts are dominated by infrastructure,” says Hagg, noting that the river is “almost invisible”. With the railway station and recent renovations of monuments such as its museums, the city has already made some attempt to create a greener space. Hagg says her job, if her project is selected, would be to complete this process. “With seeing the site [of the Expo] not as an isolated island but as one point in the structure of the city, we were looking into the existing networks, missing links and how to use the Expo to bring the whole city together,” she explains. It’s not a question of out with the old and in with the new, either. She adds that it will be “important to use existing features of the site, not to make a tabula rasa [clean slate] but to work with the history as well as the future”. Rejuvenating this site in
particular will also join the dots historically, as it was set to play host to a 1939 World Expo that was interrupted by the outbreak of World War Two. And if expos are remembered for anything, it’s the landmarks they spawn, such as London’s Crystal Palace, built for the inaugural International Exposition in 1851 but later destroyed in a fire, and the Eiffel Tower in 1889. But not all sites have been successfully transformed for other uses after the event. “Only Lisbon, using a long-term strategy completely reorganising crucial functions in the city, could use the expo as a catalyst for the making of a new city district,” says Hagg. In the case of Liège, there are already existing monuments that could be given long-lasting recognition through the Expo, including the railway station (likened in the British Guardian newspaper to landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower), the city’s Grand Palace, its school and its monument to King Albert. For people looking back on the Expo in 2117, Hagg says: “I hope that they remember a vibrant party in the whole city, the Architect summer of the Expo 2017 and Katharina Hagg how it gave them back their river and a new green riverfront.” Winter 2012 - 31
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the big pic ture